Chris Hladczuk posted a great thread to Twitter highlighting easy-to-use but often overlooked Google search techniques. Some of these may be familiar to experienced tech users, but there will most likely be some new ones as well.

Chris Hladczuk, Twitter thread

If you use it right, Google is the most powerful tool in the world. But the truth is most people suck at it. Here are 8 Googling tips that you probably don't know.

If you use it right, Google is the most powerful tool in the world.

But the truth is most people suck at it.

Here are 8 Googling tips that you probably don't know?

— Chris Hladczuk (@chrishlad) August 28, 2021

#HowTo #Linked

Jake Peterson, writing for Lifehacker

Just about everything you do on, with, and around an Amazon product or service is logged and recorded. Sure, you might not be surprised to learn that when you visit Amazon’s website, the company logs your browsing history and shopping data. But it goes far beyond that. Since Amazon owns Whole Foods, it also saves your shopping history there. When you watch video content through its platforms, it records all of that information, too.

[…]

Unfortunately, while you can access this data, Amazon doesn’t make it possible to delete much of it. You can tweak your privacy settings you stop your devices from recording quite as much information. However, once logged, the main strategy to delete it is to delete the entire account it is associated with. But even if you can’t delete the data while sticking with your account, you do have a right to see what data Amazon has on you, and it’s simple to request.

How to download all of your Amazon data

Go to Amazon’s Help page. You’ll find the link under Security and Privacy > More in Security & Privacy > Privacy > How Do I Request My Data? Once there, click the “Request My Data” link.

Direct link: Request Your Personal Information – Amazon Customer Service

Reading this article a few days ago, made me curious to know what Amazon knows about me. So, I decided to request a download of all the data that Amazon has collected on me.

I won't go into the detail of the data, but I'll tell you it is a lot of information. If you're curious to know what Amazon knows about you, go ahead and make a request. As a side note, it took Amazon a couple of weeks to email the link to the downloadable data to me.

#Privacy #HowTo

I don't watch a lot of YouTube, but I do it often enough that the ads are really fucking annoying. I've been using an ad blocker since they were first introduced almost 20 years ago. It’s been so long ago that I forgot that ads even exist on the web. Except of course for YouTube ads.

Safari is my primary browser with Wipr for ad-blocking. Wipr blocks all ads, trackers, cryptocurrency miners, EU cookie and GDPR notices, and other annoyances. It works in Safari and all apps that use Safari to display web pages.

With Wipr version 1.26 Wipr blocks YouTube ads.

Wipr FAQ

What Is Wipr Extra?

Starting with version 1.26, Wipr will include a fourth Safari Extension named Wipr Extra. It provides blocking on the few sites where the Content Blocker API is not enough, such as YouTube.

Wipr works with Safari on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Goodbye, Grammarly ads.

#HowTo #Mac #iOS